COVID-19 survivor and trials participant looks forward to traveling again
When Linda Thompson retired from the Virginia Department of Transportation in 2019, she started a new job the next day — getting fit.
“My new job was going to American Family Fitness and getting in the pool and doing water aerobics,” said Thompson, 72. “I was really in bad shape when I retired. So it was time for me to take care of Linda.”
Thompson lost 60 pounds over the next year. The exercise, her doctors said, helped save her life. The grandmother of two contracted COVID-19 in January and landed at VCU Health, where doctors, nurses and other staff worked diligently to get her well.
At the health system, she had access to cutting-edge treatments for COVID-19 in the form of clinical trials. She joined one. Even if it didn’t help her, she thought, her participation would provide valuable insights into what might work.
“Anything to help fight against COVID-19 in the future, I’d be willing to do,” Thompson said. “I didn’t have to think twice about it.”
Thompson qualified for a trial called ACTIV-1, which sought to test the efficacy and safety of three drugs used in combination with remdesivir. Wright Center leader Arun Sanyal, M.D., led the ACTIV-1 trial.